Review Eschalon: Book II Reviewed by RPGWatch

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Tags: Eschalon: Book II

<p>RPGWatch <a href="http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/article?articleid=152&amp;ref=0&amp;id=328" target="_blank">reviewed the game</a> and gave it a 5 star rating.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Quests are an important, even essential part of any rpg. In <em>Book II</em>, while following the main storyline and its associated quests, there are a multitude of optional side quests which not only make the game more fun, but which help to provide the necessary experience required to reach the higher levels. Without those levels, many of the main quest objectives will be far too difficult to accomplish. While many of the quests are straightforward, some are complex and others offer alternative solutions. In one fairly early quest, you are charged with confronting and killing a werewolf. However, when you find this alleged person, you discover that the quest giver might himself be the werewolf. Whom will you believe? At one point, while following a lead from one NPC, I met another who gave me a further quest. Following that one led me to still another one. Eventually, this series of quests gained me about three levels. I needed them. Some quests may not be able to be completed till later in the game and this is especially true with a couple of the Easter Eggs you&rsquo;ll find. They are worth pursuing however. A final note on quests. With a few, there are very subtle hints available and several involve the solving of puzzles. All in all, a most enjoyable and diverse collection.</p>
</blockquote>
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<p>Spotted at: <a href="http://www.rpgwatch.com/#15119">RPGWatch</a></p>

 

[Felix]

Cons

:blank:

......

 

[Konjad]

I like first Book more than second although I played only demo of Book II

 

[Elwro]

I'm impressed by different things about Eschalon II then Corwin. And I'm not impressed by some things at all. I'll do my best to write a review in July.

(Try the demo, but grab a book first to read while your character is walking.)

 

[SuicideBunny]

whenever i try to remember something memorable about eschalon 2, i instead remember stuff from avernum 6.

 

[Elwro]

As I said elsewhere, I still think that the difference is that in Vogel's games the content finds you wherever you go, while in Eschalon you have to look hard for it.

 

[JarlFrank]

Also, combat is, apart from the special abilities you get at skill level 10, still mostly boring. It's usually "pick aimed strike and hit enemy until he dies" or "pick strong strike and hit enemy until he dies", depending on your to-hit-chance.

Like a slow, turnbased Diablo. Add to that slow walking speed and combat that is rather challenging later on, and it becomes very tedious.

 

[Elwro]

lrn2buff

 

[Unkillable Cat]

That powered-up bludgeoning attack is just brutal. It easily makes clubbing the best melee tactic for Book 2.

 

[Captain Rufus]

Im trying to play it without armor as an archer spec rogue. Yeah. Dumb painful idea.

Eschalon 2 has an overall cool game system, but the content is all but nonexistent and the plot is basically "Go here. Get this. Bring it there. Take it somewhere else."

Im 30 hours in and that's the spoiler free plot summary.

There is little C&C, and its mostly neato resource management adventuring and constant reloads because fighting armorless sucks ASS even with Dodge.

Its like a great game system with a boring killer GM.

Maybe Book 3 will have a resolution for people who aren't on netbooks and a gamestory we actually give a shit about.

There are combat strategies though. It involves lighting, cover/enemy chokepoints, and gear/resource management.

If you turn the 4 realism/challenge options off it loses a LOT though.

I have them all on, and am getting a piddly extra 5% xp and the 5-6 challenge options I have managed to keep or reload if I failed them. I had one more but knew no other way to progress the main plot. (Maybe I should have gone and checked if my lockpick skill could have gotten me past it..)

 

[Elwro]

Well, with officially mandatory 1024x768, it's not for people on netbooks right now... at least not with those with screens 600 pixels high.

 

[mornick]

That powered-up bludgeoning attack is just brutal. It easily makes clubbing the best melee tactic for Book 2.

Clubbing the best melee tactic? One word: SCORE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBBAshT2 ... re=related

 

[Luzur]

i think like this: its way WAY better then the next-gen super hyped "RPG's" they make nowadays.

 

[Angthoron]

Not sure I would agree. If the same game was released with hype equal to ME by BioWare the FFFUUUUUU on the Codex would reach the outer space.

It's a nice game, sure enough, but certainly not without drawbacks (walking and lack of things to do while walking comes to mind - even BG had more stuff to do in the wilderness than this). There are nice ideas that are unfortunately ultimately pointless, too, like cartography - what's the difference between C1 and C15? More detailed blotchy mini-map? Whoa.

Perhaps the third game might take some of the shortcomings of second into account - if the walking walking walking walking walking walking walking walking walking is unavoidable, it should at least feel more rewarding in terms of various tiny content like random lore, an NPC camp (with one line maybe even - fine), a Grey wolf instead of a black one... You know, something that would make the 90% of the game time you would otherwise spend walking between points A and B less tedious.

Dammit, how about a horse? I bet if they made a Horse DLC it would sell real well.